Rooney banned for three Matches

England striker Wayne Rooney will miss the Euro 2012 group stage after being banned for three matches for his sending off against Montenegro.

Uefa’s disciplinary panel, which described the incident as an “assault”, decided on the punishment at a meeting on Thursday. The England FA are said to be considering an appeal.

The official UEFA statement read:

The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body has today handed down a three-match suspension to England forward Wayne Rooney following his dismissal during the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in Montenegro last Friday, 7 October.

Today’s decision was taken in relation to the red card shown to Rooney for assault after 74 minutes of England’s final Group G game, the 2-2 draw with Montenegro in Podgorica. The striker will now be suspended from playing in his country’s next three UEFA national competition matches for which he would be eligible.

In the Premier League, the punishment for violent conduct is an automatic three-match ban, which is what UEFA game gave. The phrase “assault” is a bit of rhetoric on UEFA’s part, but basically Rooney got a three-match ban for violent conduct.

The English Football Association issued its own statement saying:

“Further to Uefa’s decision to impose a three-match suspension on Wayne Rooney, the FA awaits the full reasons from the disciplinary committee, and will give full consideration to the decision internally, before deciding on any response to Uefa or making any further public comment.”

The length of the suspension creates quite a dilemma for England coach Fabio Capello. Capello has already said that he will leave Rooney out of the England squad for the teams upcoming friendlies.

Ex-England manager Graham Taylor spoke about this today saying:

“If they do well enough in the friendly games, then who knows, England manager Fabio Capello might decide not to take Rooney. But if it were me at this moment, he is our best player and even if the three-game ban still stands, then I would take him.”

Expect a lot of debate between now and the summer on whether Capello should include Rooney in the England squad. What do you think? Should Rooney be in the England squad for the Euro 2012 finals?